Jake McRae named 2015 PacWest Newcomer of the Year

Nov 11, 2015

IRVINE, Calif. – Pacific West Conference coaches named junior forward Jake McRae the 2015 PacWest Newcomer of the Year and a first team All-PacWest selection.

The 2015 All-PacWest Men's Soccer teams and awards were released by the league office on Wednesday, following a vote by the head coaches. Conference champion Fresno Pacific led the way with 10 All-PacWest selections and the program's first Player of the Year.

McRae is the second BYU-Hawaii men's soccer player chosen as the Newcomer of the Year following Jace Green's selection last season. The Utah Valley transfer led the PacWest with 14 goals. He scored multiple goals in five games, including a hat trick against Chaminade that earned him a PacWest Player of the Week honor. It was BYU-Hawaii's first hat trick since 2009.

McRae also broke the single-season and tied the career goal scoring record at BYU-Hawaii with 14 goals this season. McRae broke a tie with Jace Green, Brian Noguera and Jeremy Yorgason for the single-season record with his 10th goal against Dominican on Oct. 22 . He then tied Adam Maciejewski for the career record with his last goal of the season against Chaminade with 23 seconds remaining in the game.

Fresno Pacific midfielder Renato Bustamante was named PacWest Player of the Year. The preseason top player lived up to the billing, leading the conference in points (31) and assists (13). His 13 assists were the third-most in conference history. He also tied for fourth in goals (9). Bustamante, the first Sunbird to win the conference's top honor, registered a point in 14 of FPU's 18 games this season. He was the NSCAA National Player of the Week on Nov. 3 after contributing six points in a 16-goal two-game run by the Sunbirds.

Notre Dame de Namur defender Tyler Matas was named PacWest Defender of the Year. He earned his fourth All-PacWest honor this season, leading the Argos with five assists. He tied the PacWest record with four assists against Holy Names, the highest total in the NCAA this season. NDNU ranked third in the PacWest with a 0.83 goals-against average.

Dixie State goalkeeper Bradley Trella was named PacWest Goalkeeper of the Year. He led the conference in goals-against average (.594), shutouts (9) and save percentage (.884); ranking second in the nation in save percentage and 10th in GAA. Trella posted seven-consecutive shutouts, all against PacWest opponents, and amassed a shutout streak of 769:09, the ninth-longest individual streak in NCAA history.

Hawai'i Pacific forward Sven Koenig was named PacWest Freshman of the Year. He ranked seventh in the PacWest in goals (9) and 10th in points (18), top marks for conference freshmen in both categories. He scored seven of his goals in the final eight games of the season.

Dixie State's Josh Pittman was named PacWest Coach of the Year. The first-year coach guided Dixie State to its best season ever at 10-2-4, which included a 13-game unbeaten streak. The Red Storm were in contention for the conference title until the last game of the season, finishing second at 8-1-4 and posting 21 more conference points than 2014. Dixie State led the nation in save percentage (0.888) and ranked sixth in goals-against average (0.59).

FPU led the conference with 10 All-PacWest honors, including four first-team members. Dixie State and Hawai'i Pacific each had five and NDNU had four. FPU's Alvaro Nogales and PLNU's Tyler Allen ended their careers as four-time All-PacWest selections.